THE WATER-MILL
Such are the wants and such is the ingenuity of man, that he makes even the elements his servants; the breeze and the stream are detained in their course, until they have done his pleasure. Water-mills are placed over rivers ‘or brooks, which are sometimes very small ones; but the water is banked up on each side, and confined by flood-gates, until there is a sufficient quantity to turn the mill. In ancient times, grain was ground or bruised between flat stones, by the labour of the hand, and very great labour it was: wind.
and water charge nothing for their work.
Rub-a-dub-dub, like a man in a tub,
The water-mill rattles,by day;
And when it is night, in this fidgety plight,
It.continues to rattle away.
Why don’t you keep still, you incessant old mill ?
I wander what can be the matter:
You shudder and quake, and take your sides shake,
And your teeth, they do nothing: but chatter.
When supplied, it appears, that you’re always in tears,
You remain, yet are willing to jog;
If ever you stray from the spot, I shall say,
That you certainly travel incog.
THE WIND-MILL
The wind which shakes the window frame, and blows the smoke down the chimney, has very many uses; it disperses unwholesome air and vapours; it wafts the ships from a distant seas to our shores, and thus supplies us with all the richest productions of foreign lands; and it turns many a mill, without whose aid many a rich man would perhaps be without bread.
The sails being driven round by the force of the air, communicate their motion to various large wheels within, toothed, as are those in a clock. These again turn the stones, which are as large as a round table, and very heavy. Between these stones, the upper one revolving with surprising rapidity, the grain is gradually joggled in by the motion of the mill itself. When there, it is briskly crushed to atoms, and is afterwards rattled through cloths and canvass until all the coarser parts, the husks or bran and pollard are removed. Many grain-mills now are turned by the power of steam, which can be had when wind and water-mills cannot act.